Most of the problems you might get using any version of Windows is unsigned drivers. Drivers are basically bits of software which enable your operating system to see your hardware in your computer, and get the most out of it, such as brilliant graphics, high network speeds or really crisp sound. Badly written drivers don’t get signed by Microsoft because they won’t pass certain quality control measures, and unsigned drivers can cause the Blue Screen of Death, crashes or really bad performance.

Using a tool in Windows Vista, lets you check your drivers to see whether they are signed or not, and for advanced users lets them see much more detail.

1. Click Start and type in the Search box, verifier then click the Verifier application in the list.
2. For standard users, click the first option then click Next (see screenshot).
3. Again, for standard users, click the first option and click Next (see screenshot).
4. It may take a few minutes for Windows to detect all of your drivers, so be patient.
5. The next screen will give you a list of all the unsigned drivers needing to be verified. This gives you an idea of which drivers you need to get from manufacturers websites in order to get fully working drivers (see screenshot). Click Finish.
6. You may need to restart your computer - but this dialog (see screenshot) won’t mean that your computer will restart just this moment, so no mad panic to save your work.

Source: TweakVista

Microsoft have updated the Knowledge Base article (KB931619) and offers some hotfixes which aren’t actually available. This is because the hotfixes haven’t been tested properly and need to go through more thorough testing, and those seriously affected by this can still ask for the patch.

Some people find that when you click the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the notification area, and try and safely remove a device, the device doesn’t get released as you might think it would, and also doesn’t tell you that it hasn’t been released.

The reason the knowledge base article has given, is that there’s a timing issue in which your USB device’s memory may be released from the system whilst the system is trying to remove the device, thus causing the computer to not actually find the device information (as it’s just removed it) and doesn’t realise that the device isn’t connected and just ends up freaking out and getting confused. Bless!

You could waste your time waiting for the Microsoft Support people to get back to you, but I saved you the hassle and offered up downloads for you.

Please note: these are saved on my SkyDrive because they password-protected and timebombed the files they sent me. I extracted them and saved them so that they’d always be available. They are the same patches from Microsoft and are still digitally signed.

               Vista 32-bit version                                   Vista 64-bit version

Do you have a SATA disk drive in your computer? If so, you can squeeze a little more performance out of your hard disk.  This speeds up the performance of your hard disk by enhancing write caching. However, if your computer is not connected to a battery backup and you loose power you have a increased risk for data loss or corruption. If you have a laptop, your chances are data loss or corruption are dramatically less since your laptop battery will kick on if your power source is lost. Let’s get started:

1. Click on  Start and type in in “Device Manager” in the Search bar and hit Enter.
2. Expand Disk Drives.
3. Right click on your hard drive and select Properties.
4. On the Policies tab, check Enable advanced performance.
5. Hit OK and close Device Manager.

Source: TweakVista

This problem is stemmed from a “mapfile1: access is denied” message each time he started Internet Explorer or Windows Mail. Mapfi le1 is linked to software for ATI graphics cards, and the error is found on PCs that have been upgraded to Windows Vista from an earlier version of Windows.

The best solution is to locate new drivers and software from your graphics card manufacturer. Make sure it’s compatible with Windows Vista. If none is available, download the latest drivers from ATI instead, uninstall your existing graphics card software from the Add or Remove Programs control panel and then install this in its place.

Thanks to Windows Vista Magazine.

This is a tricky one as devices or applications may not be fully compatible with Windows Vista. If they work with Windows XP then there is a good chance they’ll still work, but sometimes with specialist devices like Bluetooth and networking devices, the drivers don’t fully work.

1. Try Windows Update to update your drivers - make sure your Internet connection is active, then go to  Start, All Programs, Windows Update, and in the left hand pane select Turn on Windows Update. A list of compatible software and drivers will be downloaded and installed onto your computer. Make sure you check your device or application manufacturer’s website for patches and information.
2. If you’re running 64-bit Windows Vista, then 16-bit applications will not work, and some 32-bit programs might have trouble working as well. However if not, then find the application that doesn’t work, right click it and select Properties. On the Compatibility tab, select an earlier version of Windows (such as XP SP2) and see if that makes the program run correctly.

One of the more annoying components in Vista x64 is the need for signed drivers. This hinders the use of many freeware applications out there (even though they come with an x64 driver) just because the driver isn’t digitally signed. About a month ago I ran into a piece of software I had to use, but alas, no signed drivers. So I set out on a quest to figure out how to permanently disable the driver signing checks in Vista x64. And guess what? I found it .

Here’s how to get it done:

1. Open an elevated command prompt
2. type “bcdedit /set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS” without the quotes (and no the DD is not a typo).
3. Reboot and enjoy being able to use unsigned drivers in Vista x64.

Source: Chris123NT

This article only applies to computers running Windows Vista (not Home Basic) and those with Tablet PC functionality.

Most people are right handed, and menu’s opening on the right hand side where they normally do can be difficult to work with. This artlicle shows how you can get the messages and menus to open and appear to the left of your hand (or vice versa if appropriate) to make viewing easier.

1.  Go to  Start then Control Panel.
2. Click Tablet PC Settings (in category view and classic view).
3. In the General tab, select either as appropriate:
   Right handed - for right handed people, and menu’s will appear to the left of your hand on-screen.
   Left handed - for left handed people, and menu’s will appear to the right of your hand on-screen.
4. Click Apply, OK and you’re all done.

Thanks to Long Zheng. 

Windows Vista has a hardware memory diagnostic tool which helps aids and checks problems with your hardware memory. It also helps analyse your RAM memory to ensure everything is working fine.

1. Go to Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, then the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool.
2. You can either select the first option to start the test immediately and restart your computer, or to start the next time you restart your computer manually - up to you.
3. Your machine will restart, and the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool will start scanning your memory for problems
4. After the diagnostic tool has finished checking the memory your PC will restart and details of the memory check will be displayed via an icon in the notification area. 

With the new operating system just out for release to buy and download, here are 10 reasons why you should upgrade to Windows Vista from existing operating systems.

1. Minimise security threats and system vulnerabilities
   Enhanced online protection with Windows Internet Explorer 7 - including protected mode and the anti-phishing filter to help protect your identity and data. The protected mode mitigates threats from malicious software such as spyware, viruses and root kits. UAC (User Account Controls) makes it easier to implement standard user-privilages on your computer; you can create a separate account for each user and control websites, programs, downloads they can use and install whilst all reducing the attack surface of your company or home computer
2. Help reduce the time and cost of troubleshooting and resolving system issues
   Advanced Group Policies manage critical usage scenarios and corporate machines. With enhanced security and management features on each desktop, you can reduce the time spent responding to help calls.
3. Increase user productivity by simplifying the way people organise and search
   Powerful integrated search capabilities help save people time by helping them to find just about anything on their computers. With a new user interface provides better stability, improved user experience, richer visualisation and easier navigation.
4. Help reduce the time to configure and deploy a new computer
   Tools such as System Image Manager have the potential to make installations faster, more manageable and less error prone. System Image Manager uses the modular architecture of Windows Vista, and it’s XML based; unattended format to enable better servicing and language independance.
5. Reduce the complexity of image configuration and the number of images managed
   A new imaging format in Windows Vista allows for hardware and language independence, reducing the number of desktop images needed when deploying to corporate PC’s with a variety of hardware and language settings.
6. Increase mobile worker productivity by enabling remote access and syncronisation
   Your people can collaborate better with teams, partners and customers, regardless of whether they are on the road or in the office. Sync Center manages data syncronisation between PC’s, devices and wireless connections with enhanced security to help protect your mobile workforce.
7. Minimise the time of supporting mobile and remote systems and people
   Remote Assistance is a collaborative help tool that lets IT professionals remotely view and share control of the user’s computer to assist in diagnosing and resolving computer troubles.
8. Help prevent the loss of critical/sensitive data from lost or stolen machines
   Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption (in Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate editions) securely protects and manages your data if a laptop or computer is lost or stolen.
9. Increase team productivity by making it easier to share ideas without a network
   With Windows Meeting Space feature, your teams can hold peer-to-peer ad hoc meetings to share ideas in real time, without the need for a wireless network or projector.
10. Help facilitate corporate compliance
    Granular event logging, auditing and tracking enable compliance throughout your network.

Don’t panic - you don’t have to spend a whole load of money you might not have on a DVD drive. It’s recommended as most things come on a DVD nowadays and it’s a sound investment to have, but Microsoft have made things nice and easy for you.

In your boxset where your DVD copy of Windows Vista is, is a small leaflet explaining how to obtain CD’s with the same installation on. There are two things you can do:

 Option 1 - before you’ve even bought Windows Vista
There is a download option, where instead of buying your copy of Windows Vista in an actual shop, you can download it over the Internet and save yourself a bit of money. You need a rather fast Internet connection really and it’s recommended you have a 2MB broadband line or higher. It will be saved in your Digital Locker and will enable you to redownload as many times as you want - but try and download during the night as some broadband providers have restrictions and can eat up your monthly allowance, and generally it should be faster to do.
 Order your copy of Windows Vista online today

 Option 2 - you’ve bought Windows Vista in the shop but you don’t have a DVD drive
On the little leaflet in your boxset will ask you to go to a website which will let you order your CD version of the operating system. You may have to pay for the shipping costs (which should be around £10 or $20) but once it arrives you’ll have around 5 or 6 CD’s which will work just fine and will install just as well as the DVD copy.
 Order your CD version of Windows Vista now

This service will determine if your computer is capable of running Windows Vista. To do this, a small ActiveX control will be installed on your browser. No personal information will be collected. The installation needs to be completed only once.

The ActiveX control here is fully legitimate and is copyright to FutureMark Inc. which is a worldwide standard for games advice for Windows. VistaBase accepts no liability for problems to your computer that this may cause, and has no affiliation with FutureMark in any way.

When presented with the install, the information bar should appear. Simply click on it select “Allow” or “Run”. When the page refreshes, click “Install” to allow the ActiveX control to run. You may need to push the button again for it to bring up the “Install” dialog, but after that the system checker to analyse your current computer.

The tool will begin the analysis and will return the results so you can see what will work, what won’t and direct you to the Windows Marketplace so you can buy optional components.

 Start the System Checker

You may have 512MB of RAM memory on your system, but is any of it shared? The best way to determine whether you actually have 512MB of memory available (the minimum amount of memory required for Vista to even begin the installation) is to check the Windows Version.

1) Go to Start , Run, then type in winver and press OK.

As you can see in the image given above, it says 506,860KB which is 504MB. This means that 8MB of your system memory is being used elsewhere - and most likely it’s being used by your onboard graphics card. The key to this, is to either put in a much better graphics card which has it’s own memory unit (thus freeing up the system memory), or add more system memory.

It’s annoying I know - you do have 512MB memory, but some of it is being used and if it is onboard graphics, there’s little you can do about it, so get a memory upgrade or a graphics card upgrade. It’s what I had to do…

Vista being the new operating system wouldn’t be complete without certain hardware benefits as well - here you’ll be able to see webcams, keyboards and mice, and other technologies and hardware which will be available specifically for Windows Vista.

In some builds of Vista, whilst WDDM and DWM are enabled with all your fancy Windows Aero effects, the mouse whilst scrolling can sometimes be jagged and jump around the place and performance seems to be low. Don’t bother checking the batteries in your wireless mouse, it’s not that (or could be…) - try this first to see if it helps.

1. Push Start , then Run (or press Windows key + R) to get you to the Run command.
2. Type regedit and then press OK. If UAC prompts you to allow the action, hit Continue/Allow.
3. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.
4. In the right hand side, look for the REG_SZ value WheelScrollLines.
5. Double click on the REG_SZ value and modify its value from “3” (default option for 3 lines).
6. Click on OK, then close the Registry Editor.
7. Log off Windows and then log back in.

With Vista, if you do not wish to install it on a full computer or even as a dual boot partition, you can run it in virtualisation software which creates a nice sandbox environment on your current computer with a separate operating system running. Below is a list of software which fully supports virtualisation with Windows Vista running as a guest operating system.

 Microsoft Virtual PC 2007
 Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 SP1
 Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Standard/Enterprise
 VMware Server
 VMware Workstation 5+
 Microsoft Virtual PC 2004
 Microsoft Virtual PC Express
 VMware Player

Please note, some features still may not be available in a virtual environment, such as Windows Aero and other visual features. The core security and kernel functionality such as UAC, WinFX and Aero Standard should remain intact.

This is directly to guide to help start-up Vista on Virtual Server 2005 R2

1) Open up your Virtual Server Web Console from the Start menu of your host operating system (the system you’re running Virtual Server on)
2) In the left menu pane, under Virtual Machines, click Create.
3) Create the name in the Virtual Machine name, then in the memory box, enter in 512 or more. If you have a 2GB system, enter 1024 in here. 

 Note: It is recommended that you use as much virtual RAM as possible. If you have 1GB or less physical RAM, virtualisation might not be the best idea. Try and have three-quarters of your physical RAM specified.
 
4) In the Virtual hard disk settings, ensure that the disk is 20GB or more as this is the recommended minimum disk size for installation.
5) If you wish to add the Vista installation to a network, in the virtual network adapter section, click and select a network to automatically connect to from the drop down list. These networks depend on which networks the host operating system have access to.
6) After burning your bootable copy of Vista to DVD (check here), insert it into your DVD drive, run the newly made virtual machine, and install Vista onto your virtual machine.

 Note: If your copy of Vista will not boot (regardless of whether you selected the right options or not - it’s still beta don’t forget!) then install Windows XP onto your virtual machine because XP is definitely bootable. If you’re wanting to run a x64 version of Vista but don’t have a 64-bit version of XP to upgrade from, register here for a trial version of Windows XP x64. Remember, you can’t upgrade from a 32-bit operating system to a 64-bit operating system!
 
7) After your virtual copy of Vista is installed, you will need the Virtual Machine Additions for the guest operating system to run properly. Click under Virtual machines in the left pane, and select Configure then click Install Virtual Machine Additions near the bottom of the status list.
8) Depending on the version of Virtual Server you have, you may be selected with an information list regarding the additions. Click the tick box to install the additions.
9) Follow the installation wizard through, and you should have your copy of Vista installed on your virtual machine, as well as having better optimisation for your guest operating system to interact with your host operating system.
 
As a rough guide, it’s recommended that you have at least this hardware to run Virtual Server on your host system:

• PS/2 or USB keyboard
• PS/2 or USB mouse
• 768MB-1GB RAM minimum
• 2.4Ghz x86 processor minimum
• 15″ monitor
• 40GB free hard drive space
• On-board graphics

It’s important - the guest operating system cannot have a better set of system specifications as the host operating system, because the guest system shares from the host system. The RAM for the host system has to be enough to run the background services for the existing operating system, as well as Virtual Server, and the guest operating system, which is why ideally you need plenty of RAM to support Vista, which is memory intensive as it is.